MrAllen ended our last call with early discussions of a POA (power of attorney), living will and estate planning. The goal here is to protect my family and assets and set them up for the future. I want to avoid the process of remaining family members trying to figure it out – you know, keep it sexy. During the figuring out phase, there are times where decisions can cause more strain and discouraging conversations. It’s a weird head space to be in, however so necessary. Now that I have this information readily available, drafting up the will should be an easy experience. I’m just ready to handle it and move on with living.
With financial wellness top of mind, I’ve listened to a couple of podcasts – The Black BOSS Channel and the Digital Dialogue Series. A few questions come to mind. Can I limit what the POA can do with my estate? What is the role of a trust in estate planning? What does it mean when you are named the executor of an estate? Should the beneficiaries be younger than me? Those podcast sessions reaffirmed that I’m going in the right direction.
If your crew is not talking about this, then you start the conversation. Some of us need to know that lack of estate planning can dissolve relationships. And lack of retirement planning could have us working during our twilight years. Who knew that saving money for a raining day, means you’re really losing money? If you are not investing, eventually your money will lose value. Homework from week 1 & 2 is assisting in my thought process – gathering of my savings (Pension, 401K, College Fund & IRA), insurance policies, mortgage summary, credit analysis and retirement projection summary. Getting there will take work, trust, and calculated risks. Week 8 & 9: I’m 3 weeks in from doubling my employer’s 401K contribution. Adjusting to the new balance will take several months to manage. Thankful for the slowness of world, which has allowed me to be more mindful of my spending. When things pick back up, I want to be financially knowledgeable of my investments. For the first time, I viewed my new financial dashboard. My goal is to review the dashboard twice per month.
I identified a power of attorney and sent a request to begin the Will process. Even though, I have a living will, a will is needed too. Week 10: Mr. Allen scheduled a 45-minute appointment to walk me through estate planning. We discussed steps from a General Estate Planning information packet and the importance in having an emergency folder. The emergency folder houses all of your investment accounts and specific contact information to reference as needed. He also encouraged me to purchase a fire-proof safe for this information and a safe for my firearms. We laughed and he gave me a new assignment: read the 25-page information packet, research estate lawyers and complete this process.
Check out Jessica’s other two blogs Financial Journey 1 and Financial Journey 2.
